Facile Preparation of Porous Carbon Cathode to Eliminate Paracetamol in Aqueous Medium Using Electro-Fenton System

Abstract

Porous carbon cathode (PCF) was fabricated by thermal treatment at high temperature under a nitrogen gas flow mixed with 1% of oxygen. Scanning electron microscopy results revealed a homogenous porosity covered the carbon fibres. This property improved significantly the hydrophilicity that supported the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in electro-Fenton process as confirmed by contact angle measurements. In addition, an increase of 700 times of the surface area is observed after the thermal treatment. The crystalline average size of the new material was also ameliorated during thermal treatment as observed by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) due to the selective etching of amorphous carbon. Porous cathode exhibited also better electrochemical performances than raw carbon felt cathode as proved by cyclic voltammograms (CVs) because of the higher electroactive surface area. According to the Randles-Sevcik formula, the electroactive surface area of PCF was 10 times higher than raw CF. The concentration of H2O2 on PCF and raw CF was 24.6, 7.9 mg L -1 respectively after 80 min. The porous cathode was applied for removal of paracetamol (PCM) in acidic aqueous medium using an electro-Fenton process. Mineralization of PCM was followed by total organic carbon (TOC) measurements and an improvement of 31% was observed compared to the non-modified cathode after 2h of electrolysis. The porous carbon cathode kept its stability after 10 cycles.

Improved chiral electrochemical recognition of tryptophan enantiomers based on three‐dimensional molecularly imprinted overoxidized polypyrrole/MnO2/carbon felt composites

“…The X‐ray diffractometer of CF and MnO 2 /CF was demonstrated in Figure A. Two broad diffraction peaks centered at 24.3 and 43.1° in MnO 2 /CF were ascribed to the (002) and (100) reflections of carbon, respectively . Other three diffraction peaks observed at 37.1, 65.7, and 77.5° are the characteristic peaks of α‐MnO 2 , indicating the successful loading MnO 2 on CF.…”

Advanced Electro‐Oxidation with Boron‐Doped Diamond for Acetaminophen Removal from Real Wastewater in a Microfluidic Reactor: Kinetics and Mass‐Transfer Studies

“…The carbon felt was conditioned before use by immersing the material in an ultrasonic bath with an acetone/ultrapure water mixture for 1 h. [54] The material was then thoroughly rinsed with ultrapure water and dried in an oven at 60°C for 24 h. Each carbon cathode was employed only for one set of experiments to ensure better repeatability of the results. The cell has been manufactured in the laboratory in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) that is chemically and thermally resistant to the applied conditions.…”

Enhanced Electro-Fenton Mineralization of Acid Orange 7 Using a Carbon Nanotube Fiber-Based Cathode

“…The result proved the efficiency of application CNTs in EF process thanks to its advantages like excellent conductivity and high surface are which were well discussed in introduction part. These properties bring to many benefits for EF experiment: (i) high surface supplies more active sites for oxidation reactions happening at surface of electrode (Le et al, 2016a) and (ii) good conductivity accelerated the electron rate for more oxygen molecular reduced to H2O2 which is the main key to improve the performance of EF treatment (Le et al, 2015a). In fact, thanks to the high surface area (~260 m 2 /g) of CNTF@CF cathode, more organic dye molecular can be adsorbed and degraded in the pore structure of the fiber, leading to a quicker mineralization rate in comparison with the pristine one (Figure 2A).…”

“…A small surface area of cathode (4 cm × 2 cm) was submerged in electrolysis solution, and placed parallel to anode with the distance of 3 cm. The aqueous solution contained Na2SO4 (50 mM) as supporting electrolyte and 0.2 mM Fe 2+ as catalyst as the optimal concentration catalyst for EF experiment which was investigated in our previous study (Le et al, 2016a). The pH was adjusted at 3.0 as the optimum pH value in EF process (Özcan et al, 2009) by H2SO4 (1 M) and measured by a pH meter (Radiometer Analytical).…”

“…By thermal treatment of CF under feeding of nitrogen gas flow mixed of 1% oxygen, a porous carbonaceous cathode was synthesized for the elimination of pharmaceutical pollutant, acetaminophen by EF treatment. The specific surface area increased considerably at 64 m 2 g −1 that was nearly 700 times higher than raw CF (Le et al, 2016a). The search for suitable material having outstanding electrochemical properties is always a big challenge of EF technology.…”